AUGUSTA (AP) – A barrier against women has fallen in Maine’s capital city, where a club founded by Franco-American men 82 years ago is admitting its first women for full membership.

Women in the past have sought membership in the Calumet Club, but the state supreme court has ruled that it could keep them out. Now the organization, which was founded to celebrate the Franco-American culture and promote friendship with people outside the culture, has changed its rules.

Earlier this month, 52 women were initiated into the club. The Sept. 9 dinner came a month after members voted 69-53 to change the bylaws and allow women in.

“I’ve always been involved with the club, and when my husband was a member, we’d volunteer. So when I got the opportunity to join, I went right up there,” said Connie Lallemand, who as a high school student in 1960 was crowned Miss Calumet.

“They all knew I wanted to join and that I was just waiting for this to happen,” said Lallemand, who also works part-time at the club as a waitress.

Since the rule change, about 65 people have joined the nearly 700-member Calumet Club.

“I think that the club needed a little bit of a change,” said Pat Boucher, chairman of a club committee that searched for ways to increase membership and recommended accepting women. “Including women will make it more family-oriented. And for any organization to grow, they need to do that so the next generation gets interested, too.”

Earlier in the club’s history, the Calumet allowed wives of members to participate in fund-raising and other activities, but the women were not allowed to vote or attend meetings.

A woman sought to join the club in 1988, and the Maine Human Rights Commission and Kennebec County Superior Court sided with her. But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Calumet could remain men-only because it failed to meet all of the definitions under public-accommodation laws.

Now, women who want to join only have to meet a few requirements: be sponsored by a current member of the club, get a recommendation from two other members and have Franco-American ancestry.

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